Landscape Painter John Budicin Captures the Beauty of Nature

John Budicin, a Southern California painter and art teacher, will address the Loma Linda Cultural Arts Association (LLCAA) on Sunday, Nov. 8 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Loma Linda Civic Center, 25541 Barton Road in Loma Linda. Admission is free to LLCAA members and LLU students; guests are asked to contribute $3. Budicin, whose chief joy is the adventure of searching for the right spot from which to appreciate and portray nature at its best, says the immediacy of painting outdoors in plein air allows him to explore the core of the subject. At the LLCAA meeting, the small group atmosphere will allow an informal exchange of ideas between the artist and the audience. A Signature Member of the Plein Air Painters of America, Budicin came to landscape art by an indirect route. Born in 1944 in a part of Italy that is now Croatia, Budicin moved to Rome with his family in 1949 and settled in California in 1955. He does not remember any early familial artistic influences nor being impressed by the classical heroic art of Rome. As an adult he was drawn into art by working as art director, advertising manager and freelance illustrator for large California department stores. He left advertising and embarked on a fine art career in the 1980s after being exposed to plein air painting in Taos, New Mexico. Budicin’s presentation will illustrate his belief that an artist cannot adequately present the glories of nature without being able to understand the natural environment. “Painting is always a learning experience, and one learns to paint outside by being there, outside!” he insists. “Photos are good tools to help one remember what was experienced on site; otherwise, photos only limit one’s options.” Magazines and books as well as museums and galleries across the United States feature Budicin’s landscapes. His exquisite paintings have won top awards from the California Gold Medal Exhibition, Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational, Oil Painters of America National Exhibition of St. Augustine, Florida, and similar venues. Teaching workshops have taken him from Tuscany and Umbria in Italy to Sedona, Taos, and Scottsdale in the American Southwest.